Home Network Configuration Question

I have 3 desktops and 1 laptop at home. I use 1 desktop and laptop (both with WINXP PRO) and both of my son's use WIN98 on their machine each.

What I want to do is connect all of them together through a hub. I currently have my main desktop and my laptop connected with the hub and the DSL modem from Bell sympatico connected to the uplink port on the hub. The problem is that each pc would have to have its own software on it and each connects individual to my ISP. Thereby creating 4 concurent connections to the ISP, which I cannot do.

I have heard about ICS but not sure how I should go about it and I have looked at routers but cannot afford one at the moment.

Set ICS up on your XP machine. This would mean that anytime that any computer needed to access the internet, this computer would need to be powered on and your other computers use it for internet access.